The Wizard of Harmonica Town
by moonchildaneki
Summary: Molly moves to castanet and meets a mysterious wizard. On her journey to revive Castanet and ring the bells, will she find love?
1. Chapter 1

"Castanet, huh?" I whisper to myself, holding onto the rail on the old boat. The waters are hardly fit for sailing in, just as the boat captain, Pascal, had warned. I knew what I was getting into, though. I planned on moving here months in advance, working as a waitress, barista, secretary, and cashier, I saved money for the farm. I had just turned 22 last fall and I hungered for change. What better change is there than to move away from home, and buy a ranch, right? Moving to a new town, with nothing but the clothes on my back and the money in my pocket... how scary. The quaint town of castanet grew bigger and bigger on the horizon. What kind of people will I meet here? Will I be able to make a living? I've always had a way with animals, but no green thumb like my cousins do. The boat begins to slow as it approaches the pier.  
"LAND HOOOOOO" Pascal shouts. I smile, thank him for the trip, and bid him good day.  
Instantaneously, I step off the boat and I am greeted by a short, plump man, with white George Washington hair, the rosy cheeks of Santa Clause, a long stubby nose, and a warm smile.  
"Welcome to Castanet, Molly!" he chirped excitedly, "Oh there is SO much to do and see and people to meet! You have a full day ahead of you! Have you had breakfast yet? You should stop by the Ocarina Inn! Thefireshaven'tbeenburninghotenoughtocook, but I'm sure they can whip you up something to eat!"  
Laughing, I say, "Woah, hold your horses! I haven't gotten your name yet but somehow you seem to know mine. What do you mean the fires aren't burning hot enough?" This was interesting news. The person on the phone failed to mention wonky fires that don't cook food!  
He squeaked and clasped his hands to his face, "I'm so sorry! I thought you remembered me, we spoke on the phone!" Oh. That explains it. "I'm Mayor Hamilton. Don't let the fires not burning hot detour you from staying here! Just because the soil quality is mediocre on a good day doesn't take away from the charming people!"  
Oh my goddess. "So I can't grow crops, sir?" Not that I could grow them even if the soil quality was perfect, but I thought I would have a chance at least!  
"W-well," he stuttered his cheeks turning pinker, "you can! The- that's enough chit-chat! You should go visit the townspeople! They're really lovely things!" he smiled brightly. "but there is a matter of money. I believe the agreed upon amount was 5000G? But no rush! You will have to stay at Ocarina Inn for a few days, until the house is built. It will take some talking to for Luke, Owen, and Dale up to the task of building it! And then there is the matter of gathering wood… I might have to ask Bo for help too.."  
Boy selling property was not this mayor's strong point. I peek over my shoulder and see Pascal's ship sailing away into the distance. "Alright, I guess I'll go meet everyone then." I sighed, fishing out the crumpled bills in my pocket. I had a plan and I just have to follow it through, no turning back now. I hand Hamilton the money and he squeaked happily.  
"Oh wonderful, wonderful! Welcome to Castanet Molly! I know everyone will love you, you're a part of our town already!" he claps his hands together. Boy, it's hard to get a word in with this man. "Lookie, lookie! It's Colleen and Dave! They own Ocarina Inn! They will show you the way from here!" I follow Hamilton down the pier pulling on the long sleeves of my yellow shirt.  
"Hello, I'm Colleen, and this is my husband Dave!" The woman was thin and had short orange hair and purple eyes, she was very pretty for an older lady. Dave was stoic and wore a frown, his grey hair suited his face well. They were both aging gracefully.  
"Hi, I'm Molly, nice to meet you!" I smile, and Colleen grins.  
"Well this is where I say good bye, make sure you meet everyone in town!" Hamilton says and runs off. He's quick for a plump, old man.  
Dave shook his head, and Colleen beckoned me to follow her. Up the steps on the pier, up the side walk, up more stairs, until we reach a cute pink building with wooden doors. "Castanet isn't what it used to be," Colleen says sadly, "Mayor Hamilton is working hard to draw people in, he hopes that with more people our spirits will pick up, and the island will thrive again. You seem pretty special Molly. Not many young people would take such a big risk and move to a failing island far away from home, and start over new."  
"Well, I needed a change of scenery," I laugh, "even if Castanet is failing now, I'm sure it will be busy, and bustling again soon! I'll work hard so it will!" I flex my muscle and clasp it with my hand. Colleen laughs and says, "We'll work hard too. Let us know if we can do anything to help you out." She smiled sadly. She was such a sweet lady. Her husband didn't say much but he seemed nice. They were good people. It was that moment when I decided I was going to help bring this towns smile back, I would work hard, and figure out a way to get the fires burning, and fix the soil, and everything else that needed to be done. At that same moment my stomach decided to growl angrily, and threaten to dissolve itself. "Well it sounds like we better start by getting some food in your stomach; you'll need your energy if you plan on saving Harmonica Town!"

Walking into Ocarina Inn I see a bright orange head pop up from behind a counter. "Ohmygosh! Do we have a customer?!" a young girl in a pink waitress dress and white apron skips over to me. Her orange hair is braided into pig tails, and adorned with ribbons. "This is my daughter Maya," Colleen says proudly. "Maya, this is Molly. She's a new villager in town, and she will be staying at the Inn until her house is built. Would you show her to her room, while we make her breakfast? Is coffee and omelet rice okay with you, dear?" She turns to me. "Oh that sounds wonderful! Thanks!" Dale nods his head and walks off mumbling something about waking "them" up.  
Maya grabs my wrist and opens a door and pulls me right, down the hall. "This is your room!" She bounds in and looks out the window. "You have a nice view of the Church Grounds from here. Some festivals and weddings take place there…not that there have been any weddings lately." I walk to the window and push aside the curtain to get a good view. "Wow, it's beautiful!" I say in awe. A huge church with stone and marble sat atop the hill. The stain glass glittering and twinkling in the spring morning sunlight, "Castanet is beautiful!" Maya continues. She walks over to a door and opens it revealing a bathroom, complete with a hot shower. "I can hear the goddess bells ringing now, oh the glory of hot water and soap!" I say happily. Maya giggles "You didn't fancy the boat ride, huh? Feel free to use the shower. I'm going to stay in here with you for a while. If I go back they'll make me help make breakfast, and Yolanda will lecture me on my cooking." She says sitting on the bed and pouting. I snicker, "okay then."  
My sore muscles welcomed the hot water, being on a boat for a day and a half made me stiff from the rocky waters. I hear the television click on in the room and the weather report for the day was said with a cute jingle at the end. "Who should I meet today, Maya?" I call as I rinse the soap from my hair. "Hm.. Well there's Kathy, Chase, who is sooooo cute, but he's mine so don't get any ideas! Yolanda, Hayden, Calvin, oh musicians are so hot!.. and then there's the tailor shop, so Shelly, Candace, and Luna… The mayor's son Gill.. He's so mean, Molly!.. The fisherman Ozzie, and his son Paolo and Toby. Toby seems too lazy for my type. Then there's the infirmary.. That's just Irene and Jin. All Jin cares about is herbs though… Perry and Mira are probably on the church grounds…" She continued on for a long time about the names of people, and she gave me a very detailed explanation on the guys, which gave me time to dry off and get dressed. "Oh and there's Wizard, who lives at the top of the hill. His house has the big telescope on it." I towel dry my hair "Wizard?" Astounded at the fact that there was a 'wizard' in this day and age, much less that he'd be in this town. "Yeah! He's kind of creepy though. No one ever sees him leave his house. But sometimes he'll do crystal ball readings for the people in town. Most of the time when people ask he shoo's them away though… he doesn't like people." Interesting. I bite my lip and ponder the possibilities of what kind of person this "wizard" was. "Oh, don't get any ideas Molly! He's mean!" She sits closer to me and put her hand to her mouth and talked as though it were a secret. "I hear he turned the Witch into a toad! And I always see girls leaving his house crying! Luna mostly!" There was a knock at the door and a handsome man with unruly peach hair appeared at the door. "How long are you going to make us wait! Your food is getting cold!" Before I could blink Maya had jumped off the bed and taken the guy's hand in hers. "You did make something for me right?!" She said puffing out her cheeks and pouting. "Of course not! You know if you want food you have to make it! Yolanda and I don't have time to!" Maya pouted more. Man he was mean. And it was clear Maya had a huge crush on him. I stood off the bed and approached the man with an outstretched hand, "Hi, I'm Molly, I-" he cut me off before I could finish. "Chase. Now hurry and up and go eat. Do you know how hard it was to make an omelet?!" I smiled, "No are you that bad of a cook?" Maya giggled and chase crossed his arms and looked abash. "Of course not! You are looking at the best chef on Castanet!" I laughed and we all set off down the hall way.

~~~~~~~~~~  
After meeting Yolanda, Kathy, Calvin, and Hayden stopped in and said hi. I decided to make my way to Flute Fields, on the opposite side of town. Kathy had been very helpful when I asked where I should go. It was a long and nice walk on the trails; I passed several beaches, the property where my house would be, a river, and some cute animals, until I had finally reached Flute Fields, and boy was it beautiful! Hills and green grass as far as my eyes could see. A bright silver blue head caught my attention. I walked down to the watermill and saw the white haired guy fishing with a little boy who wore a blue and red cap. "Hello there!" I called. Both turned around, "You must be the new girl Molly! I'm Toby and this is Paolo!" Toby gestured to Paolo. "Good luck on your farm! Let me know if you ever want to go fishing." Paolo cheered, obviously not wanting me to go, and talked about how great fishing was, keeping me there for ten minutes. He was a cute and smart 6 year-old. "I'll have to go fishing with you two one day. I had better be going today though. I still have to meet everyone else." Toby smiled and walked over to the watermill, opened the door, went inside, and returned with an old fishing pole. "No one was using this anyways, you can make better use of this than the watermill can." He handed it to me and I thanked him, "Awesome! I'll be sure to use it! Thanks a lot!" we both smiled and I went on my way.  
Walking back up to the field I passed a little cottage. I don't know what possessed me to do so, but I knocked on the door and a purple haired man appeared. Woah, he was hot! His fashion sense was a bit strange, though. "Hello." He peered down. "I'm sorry, I'm not interested in buying anything, I have to get to work." He sighed and put his hand to his forehead. I jumped, "Oh no I'm not selling anything, I'm Molly I just moved here!" I said with forced laughter. Did I look like a salesperson?! The purple haired man gasped, "Oh, I'm sorry! I'm Julius, I work in the accessory shop in the Garmon Mine District." He sighed and put his hands on his hips. He was very flamboyant, "it's not doing well. My boss died over a year ago…" he looked so sad, it didn't look right on his pretty face. Yes, pretty, he was very feminine. "Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked quietly. He pondered this and finally spoke, "If you see Mira, ask her is she's ready to come back yet." He closed his door and walked a little, "Well I'm going to work, see you around." He sauntered away. Well that was depressing; I'd have to go look for Mira later so he'll cheer up. I walked up a hill and towards Marimba farm. Hopefully the next people I meet aren't so sad. A little blonde boy and an old man with an orange cap were arguing, "I'm running away!" the little boy shouted. "Taylor, don't make me get your mom out here!" The boy ran past me and towards Fugue Forest. "That damned kid will never learn…" The old man said finally noticing me. "You must be the newcomer Molly. I'm Craig. My wife Ruth and my daughter Anissa are inside." He stalked off to Fugue Forest, in trail of his son. I popped inside and said hello to them, Ruth with the stern face gave me turnip, cabbage, and strawberry seeds. "Good luck growing them though" she said sarcastically as I left. Anissa was nice though, and very pretty, I gave her an herb I found. She was interested in plants and medicine. I left the farm with my bag growing fuller, walking to Horn Ranch and met Hanna, Cain, and Rene. They were nice enough, and Cain promised me a cow once my barn was built. It was 30 passed noon and the sky was getting cloudy so I decided it was best to head back to town. I passed my property and saw a few people putting up the structure to my house. It would be rude not to introduce myself, since they were nice enough to be building my house. "Hello!" I chirped. A guy with blue hair and a bandana turned to me, "Hi, Molly I'm Luke, I'm the best axe-man around!" he swung his axe trying to look impressive, "That's my dad Dale, and that's Owen." Owen had reddish brown hair and was a beefy man. "Hi, I'm Owe-" he blushed, "but I guess Luke already told you that. Do you like mining? I have an old hammer if you need one." Dale shook his head, "Boys we have to get this house finished, stop flirting!" I laughed and scratched the back of my head. "Thank you for building my house, I know its not easy work." Luke chortled, "It's easy for me! I can build anything! We'll have this house ready by tomorrow if I'm working on it!" Dale scoffed and shook his head at his son. I gave them some blueberries and raspberries that I had found on my walk, as I was leaving. "Thanks Molls, see you around!" Luke waved excitedly. Owen blushed and said bye quietly and returned to work.

Making my way back to town I fished and managed to catch a few crawfish and three catfish. I would give them to Chase and Yolanda so they could make dinner. The stone bridge was probably my favorite part of town. The view of harmonica town was beautiful from it, and you could see the Garmon Mine District, and if you looked far enough, Flute fields; gorgeous scenery in every direction. I took my time going over it, and as I was I met Simon. He was an older man with a large nose and blue hair that was graying. He was standing outside taking pictures of the sky, "it's not often I see such beautiful cloud formations!" We talked for twenty minutes about photography and all the pretty scenery here, then as I left he took me into his shop and gave me an old camera. It wasn't often he met someone who loved taking pictures.  
"It's almost 4…" A soft voice emerged from a blue haired girl that caught my eye outside the tailors shop. "Hi… I'm Candace… i-I work in So-sonata tailoring.." She was a cute girl who wore her long hair in two loose braids, and she was obviously very shy. "Hi, I'm Molly." She smiled as an elderly lady and pink haired girl walked outside. "Who is this, Candace?!" the pink haired girl started. "M-molly." The older woman walked up to me, "Excuse Luna, she's just happy to be back home, it's not often we meet new people. My name is Shelly. If you ever need to expand your rucksack, come see me." Luna eyed me up and down, "We can also make you clothes, in case you ever get tired of wearing that." I looked down at my orange and yellow outfit. "Okay, thanks." I said not sure if she was being rude or just making an offer. "Well, it was nice meeting you Molly," the old woman said adjusting her pink bandana because of the wind, "Stop by our shop anytime. We have to go to the fish market so we can find something for dinner, before it rains," we all looked at the giant thunderheads that were forming in the sky, "Hopefully Ozzie managed to catch some tuna." The three women walked off towards the pier. They were a cute family, I'd be sure to visit them sometime.  
I stalked up the cobblestone street towards the church. It really was a beautiful church, I wasn't religious but I could appreciate its beauty. A great big Pyrenees and a black cat greeted me at the entrance, anything fluffy and cute I loved, so I stopped and played with them and gave them some common mushrooms I had found earlier, they didn't seem to mind it. "You're so pretty" I said to the great white dog patting its head.  
I walked inside the church and I almost bumped into a sad middle aged lady, "Oh, I'm sorry!" I yipped, jumping out of her way. She looked at me sadly. "I haven't seen you before." I adjusted the hem of my skirt, "I'm Molly, I just moved here today." She blinked slowly, like a cat. "Oh. I'm Mira." Mira... Mira… Wasn't that the lady Julius was looking for? "Do you know someone named Julius?" I asked aloud, "he wanted me to ask if you "were ready to come back yet", he says the accessory shop isn't doing well. The first sign of life I had seen in the lady had appeared, she jumped and covered her mouth. "I had no Idea he wasn't doing well! After my husband died, Julius said he would take care of the shop. I need to go help him!" she ran passed me and left the church. I sat in one of the pews and admired the stain glass and mosaics. I opened a book sitting on the pew next to me. "You just met Mira?" A boy asked, he was dressed in priest clothing and he had short blue hair. "I'm Perry. I live at the churc-" Thunder clapped overhead cutting him off. "You'd better leave before the storm starts, the church closes soon." He said quietly, taking the book and disappeared through a door in the back of the building. Well that was kind of rude. I stood up, my knees creaking, and walked to the entrance of the church. I was exhausted from all the exploring I did today. Stepping outside I gazed up into the sky seeing the clouds flash angrily. Damn. I should have listened to the weather report this morning. SMACK. Something large had flown into my leg making me trip, and scrape my knee on the concrete. "Ouch!" I yelped, and a yellow glowing ball of light whirred around me, "Molly! The harvest Goddess needs your help!" cradling my knee in my hands I look up and see a little pixie floating around in distress, "The harvest goddess! The harvest Goddess!" he cried. "What's the harvest goddess?" I asked the pixie, completely ignoring the fact that sprites shouldn't be real. "She brought you here! Your destiny! You have to save Castanet!" it started to rain, which the adorable pixie did not like. He flew into my pocket and said, "Hurry get me somewhere dry!" I stood up and hobbled as fast as I could to the nearest house. A giant telescope peered up at the sky through the roof. I knocked on the door and no one answered, "Hello! It's raining, please let me in!" no answer. I turned the door knob, which surprisingly opened the door. I guess people don't have to worry about locking their houses here. I stepped inside and the smell of coffee wafted through the cluttered house. Books in strange languages lined the walls. "Hello?" I tried again, and again there was no answer. The pixie peeked out of my pocket, "this is wizard's house! He can help us!" he shook the water out of his green hair. I remembered Maya's words earlier "he's so mean!... he turned witch into a frog… girls leave his house crying.." I wasn't so sure I wanted to meet Wizard. The sprite flew around the house exploring, "I can't find him anywhere!" he cried. I went and sat in a reclining chair, not wanting to intrude more and sit on the couch, "What's your name?" I asked the fairy. He sat down in my lap and looked up at me, "I'm Finn! I'm supposed to help you on your quest to save Castanet! The harvest Goddess needs your help!" the smell of coffee comforted me and I placed my head on the arm rest on the chair, curling up into a ball. "Why me, Finn?" I asked softly. He climbed up the arm of the chair to look at me, "because you're special! You have magic in your blood, that's why you can see me! You're pure at heart, and you want to help people! Oh Molly, say you will! Please, please?! The harvest goddess and the fate of Castanet rest on your answer!" I felt my eyes drooping and Finn kept watching me expectantly. "Okay, Finn. I will help you save the Harvest Goddess and Catanet. This is my home now after all." Finn squeaked excitedly and crawled into my hair to take a nap. "We have to wait the storm out here," he said, "We have to wait for wizards return." My eyes closed and my mind fell into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

Wizard PoV

I step into my house and find a girl curled up and sleeping in my recliner. This must be the "Molly" the Harvest Goddess summoned me to me about. I don't see what the big hullabaloo is about her. She seems extremely ordinary. And extremely invasive. Coming into MY house while I'm not here, the nerve… I walk over to her and hear her soft snores, she looks exhausted. Her short hair curled in around her neck, and she had a huge ahoge at the top of her head. Her knee was covered in blood. Her first day here and she already injured herself. Humans are pathetic creatures. How is she supposed to "save" Castanet if she can't even walk without falling? I shake my head and walk over to my desk and open a book. It was still storming outside, not that that bothered me, but I doubt she could make it anywhere in the rain. Staring at the yellowing pages, but not really reading, my head was bustling with negative thoughts. I can't read with her snoring. I put the book down and walk over to her, leering down at her sleeping. Why should I help her? I will continue living even if the land shrivels up and dies. I don't need company of humans to live. "Wizards back!" A squeaky voice squeals. A sprite in a yellow shirt crawls out of her hair, and floats around excitedly, "Molly Wizard is back!" The girl begins to stir and her eyes flutter open. She notices me standing over her and lets out a high pitched scream. "You… you don't have to yell… why are you here?..." She sits up and begins to panic. "I-I… It was raining, a-and Finn s-said to take cover in your house!.. A-and that you could help us learn about the bells!" stammering she continues, "Why were you standing over me, huh?! A-are you going to turn me into a frog, too?" Turn her into a frog? While I could do that the thought had never crossed my mind. "What… are you… talking about?.. I was going to… wake you up… and ask you… to leave..." Her expression changed to sadness. "I guess what they say about you is right… you are mean." Finn flies around my head and lands on Molly's shoulder. "I'll tell the Harvest Goddess you're being mean to Molly! She said you were going to help us because she is too weak to!" I turn around and sit down back at my desk facing away from them. "I…refuse…" I hear sniffling and Finn begins to cry, and make high pitched screams. "stop…" Molly ignores me and talks softly to the sprite, "It'll be okay… We don't need Wizards help. We can do this together!" She tries to encourage him, but he continues to cry, "W-we don't even know where to star- *hic* t." I hear the recliner creak and turn around to see Molly standing up glaring at me. "You should be ashamed of yourself Wizard. No wonder people are scared of you.." I don't care what people think of me. Finn continues to cry and hiccup. I prefer my own company to anyone else's. "Finn, do you want something to drink? Water helps get rid of hiccups." Molly offers. Finn shakes his head and sniffs the air. "I want somethin- *hic* warm. It's cold in here… *hic* *sniff* can I have some coffee?" he asks, "it smells like coffee." Molly looks at me, "Can he? I used to work in a coffee shop, I can make good coffee." I look at her with mild interest. She can make good coffee? Maybe she's not so useless after all. I nod and she walks around the house looking around, "Do you have a kitchen, Wizard?" I turn back around and open my book again. "Down the hall… by the stairs…" If she goes into the kitchen at least she'll be out of the way. I look at the clock and it's already 7:30. I was planning to look at the stars tonight but the storm will make it impossible... I could always conjure up some wind and blow the clouds away. It would also mean Molly would leave. I stand up and look at the sky through my window. The clouds showed no sign of letting up. The Harvest Goddess would be mad if I toyed with nature, but do I really care? I am far stronger than she is. "Wizard? Do you have a frying pan?" Molly called from my kitchen. A frying pan, for coffee? What is that girl doing? I saunter into the kitchen and see two pots on the stove boiling, one of steaming milk and one of hot coffee. She has fish, mushroom, and purple herbs cut up on the counter. "What… are you… doing?" I ask and she is already involved in digging through my cabinets. "Finn and I were hungry," she whined still digging through cabinets, clearly dissatisfied with what I had, "I'll just use the oven to bake the fish, I guess." She goes back to the pots on the stove and turns the heat off. She managed to find three cups and began filling them up with hot coffee. I hate to admit it but the coffee smelled wonderful. "Do you like milk or sugar in your coffee, Finn?" She asked smiling at the sprite. They seemed to be getting along well. I could see why, they were both loud and annoying. "Both!" he cried happily, bringing a sugar bowl over to Molly. "What about you, Wizard? Not that I should ask since you made Finn cry." She puffed out her cheeks at me. I grabbed a cup of black coffee and turned back towards my living room. "Nothing." I said and walked to my book shelves. "Fine, then. Have it your way." Molly calls after me, and goes back to fiddling around in the kitchen and Finn grabbed his cup of hot sugar milk and the drop of coffee that was in it, and sits on my coffee table. A loud bang comes from the kitchen, "sorry!" she cried. What a pain. I cannot do any work with her around. When will this damned storm stop? I take a sip of the coffee and the taste of cinnamon, nutmeg, and roasted nuts danced on my taste buds. "This…is good…" I say quietly. Finn giggles, "It's wonderful! You should tell Molly thank you." He crosses his tiny arms and looks cross at me. I ignore him and grab a book and sit in my recliner, reading. A few minutes later Molly comes out with baked herb fish with mushrooms on the side, and places it on the table. "I made enough fish for us. I saved the crawfish for Chase and Yolanda." Like I care about this, "Chase" and "Yolanda". She sits on the sofa behind Finn and grabs a plate, "would you like some Wizard? I didn't know if you liked mushrooms so I put them on the side." Finn grabs a mushroom and pops it in his mouth, chewing loudly, "izzogoodmolye!" I stare at the sprite and then at Molly. "I…I like mushrooms…" Molly smiles and puts some mushrooms on my plate with a piece of fish. "Here you go. From the looks of your kitchen you must not eat often." I take the plate and take a bite of the mushroom. It was all pretty good. Maybe having this human around would be beneficial. Molly begins chattering away with Finn, both laughing loudly. If only she could stay quiet. "You… are really loud…" They both look at me, Molly smirks, "And you're really quiet." Finn chuckles and sips from the cup that was too big for him. They continue talking for what seems like hours, but it had only been 20 minutes. How annoying. Finn finishes his drink, sighs, and flitters around the room happily, peering out the window. "Molly! It stopped raining!" Molly's face brightens up, "it did?!" she stands up and looks out the window. She is quiet for a moment, "Harmonica Town is so beautiful at night, isn't it?... You can actually see all the pretty stars out here. You can hear the sounds of the ocean, too. Where I lived there was no ocean and no stars." She says quietly. "No…stars?..." I ask. What a sad existence without stars. "Yeah, I lived in a big city so there was light pollution. You could only see, like, two stars at night." I stared at my telescope fondly. "Well, Wizard, we better leave you alone." Molly headed to the door. Finn follows her, "maybe we can ask the townspeople about the bells." The cool night air floated into my house rustling the papers on my desk. "Come back…tomorrow… I will let you… borrow some books…" Molly smiled brightly and Finn clapped happily. "Thanks, Wizard!" I continued, "however… I will not… I repeat… will not be helping… and I… will require… more coffee …" She nodded, "Sure thing!" Molly turned and closed the door behind her. What had I gotten myself into for just a cup of wonderful coffee? She and the little sprite were now gone, but the mess they left was still here… How annoying.


	3. Chapter 3

Molly PoV

I reached the inn by 8:10 and Colleen was frantic. "Where were you Molly? We were so worried! We thought you got caught in the storm!" I shook my head. "I'm fine! I found shelter and just waited for the storm to pass." She seemed satisfied with that answer, "Well, as long as you're okay…", and walked away, to help her husband with something.  
There was a new face in the Inn, she had red hair and her skin was the color of cinnamon. She looked like a belly dancer. I also noticed Luna, Calvin, and a blonde haired boy was there. Luna waved at me her curly pigtails bouncing as she did. She was sitting at a table alone with a blue cocktail. "Hi, Luna. Is it okay if I join you? What are you doing here?" She nodded and I sat down. "W-well you see. I was just… Visiting. I want to get out of the shop more." Her gaze fell on the blonde boy. I smirked and arched my eyebrow. "Who's that?" I asked and she jumped a little, noticing I was watching her gaze. "Oh, him? He's a nobody. He's the mayor's son, Gill." She said dismissively. Maya was talking to Gill animatedly and Luna seemed to take great interest in that, she was on the edge of her seat. Did she like Gill? I didn't know her well enough to ask, so I just waved Maya over and ordered a drink to sip on, hoping that would appease Luna. "Who's the red haired girl?" I asked Luna. "That's Selena. She's from Toucan Island." Selena started talking to Gill and Luna bristled, "And her outfit is terrible." She stuck her nose up. She definitely liked Gill. Maya returned with two blue cocktails. Finn was hiding in my pockets again. He sure did sleep a lot. The whole thing back at Wizard's house popped into my mind. He had long silver hair that was held together in a low braid, tan skin, and two different colored eyes. While I couldn't deny he was handsome, he had a sour attitude. Thanks to Finn, and me making coffee, he agreed to help us, but not really, "help" us. "Luna?" I asked, interrupting the death glare she was giving Selena, "Do you know anything about the wizard?" She tilted her head and looked at me, "A little. Why do you ask?" I tried to think of a reason, but all I could muster was, "Just wondering." She put a finger to her mouth and looked up at the ceiling thinking. "Well, I've only been there to ask him about his magic. He has a crystal ball he can read people's thoughts and feelings. He said he would only do that for people that don't annoy him though… And once I asked him about a love potion, but he refused to make one because it "wasn't right to alter people's feelings with magic"." We both sipped our cocktails. "Is he mean to you?" I asked. She checked on Gill, happy Selena had moved on to Calvin, "Well, he's mean to everyone. He finds people "annoying" and "a pain"." She played with a napkin on the table, folding it into smaller and smaller pieces. "Can he actually do magic?" I wondered, and she looked at me and giggled, "I'm not sure. I'd like to believe in magic, but his crystal ball and squiggly books could be just hocus pocus." I sipped on my cocktail more, and decided to change the subject, "Candace didn't come with you?" she snorted. "No, she doesn't like cocktails, and sewing takes up all of her time." I looked around the inn. "Oh." She finished her second cocktail and said, "Well, I had better get going, I have an early morning tomorrow, and I don't want my grandma to worry." I waved bye and she walked out of the Inn.  
I decided to go introduce myself to the people I hadn't seen before. I started with Gill, "Hi, I'm Molly." Gill looked up at me with cold blue eyes. "And?" I narrowed my eyes at him, "What's your name?" He rested his chin in his hand, "Why do you care?" I gritted my teeth, "because it's polite to introduce yourself to someone you don't know." He stared at me blankly, "Gill." He checked his sparkly watch, and left without a good bye. How rude! Why was he so grumpy?! Selena seemed more approachable so I walked over to her next, with a new cocktail in hand.  
"Hi, I like your outfit." I said trying to start the conversation differently. She smiled "Thanks dearie. It can get a bit cold here though, unlike Toucan Island." She said sadly, but continued, "What's your name? You're a new face here." I smiled and sat at the bar with her where Chase was fending off Maya's flirting attack. "I'm Molly! You're from Toucan Island? What brought you here?" I felt a connection with her since we both moved here from somewhere else. "I ran away." She drank some of her red cocktail, "My parents didn't support my dream of becoming a dancer. But dance is my passion! I don't want to take over their inn!" She was talking with her hands, I could tell she was a passionate person. Wizard popped into my head again, "I can understand, your feelings. You have your own life to live!" She just nodded and smiled, drinking more. I continued on and decided to ask her the same thing I asked Luna, "Do you know the Wizard?" she looked at me strangely, "Sort'ov." Her words were starting to slur. "I saw'im once, on the beach. He had a sketchpad with 'im. It was at night, though and I didn't talk to 'im." A sketch pad? Did he draw? "Oh." I said and changed the subject, "Do you know that Gill, guy? He was so rude!" Selena finished her drink then proceeded to fold her hand into a fist and pounded her other palm with it, "Izznt 'e? I was asking 'im about how long 'es lived 'ere and if 'e 'ad a girlfriend! 'e didn't want to talk to me! 'e kept lookin at the pink girl!" she said clearly drunk, now. But that was interesting, Gill liked Luna, too! Calvin fell out of his chair, spilling his drink on himself. Selena and Colleen ran over to help him up. It was getting late and I had a lot to do tomorrow. I stood up, "Goodnight!" I waved to Chase and Maya, who waved back, and then went back to arguing with each other. I went down the hallway to my room and collapsed on the soft bed. Finn flew out of my pocket yawning and stretching. I stretched out my hand and he flew down and stood on it. "Finn, do you really think we can save the Harvest Goddess, and the island?" He blinked at me and smiled, "If it's you, of course!" my head was full of questions, and once one came out so did the rest,  
"Is magic real?"  
"How else can my existence be explained?"  
"Are you a figment of my imagination?"  
"Absolutely not!" His teeth clicked, "If I was, Wizard couldn't see me!"  
"Is Wizard really a wizard?"  
"It seems so. And the Harvest Goddess told me so, so it must be true!"  
"Do you think Wizard will help us? Can he be trusted? Aren't there some bad witches and wizards?"  
Finn thought for a moment and sat down on my palm. "I think he will. He doesn't seem like a bad person, otherwise the Harvest Goddess wouldn't have told us to ask him for help." He said thoughtfully, then added, "he is a bit mean though."  
"Will I get to meet the Harvest Goddess?"  
"Once we ring a few bells you will! She's too weak right now for you to see her."  
Finn flittered out of my hand and crawled onto the other half of the pillow.I put my hands on my stomach and stared up at the ceiling.  
"How many bells are there?"  
"Five. I don't know where they are though," he said sadly, "They have to be rang in a specific order for everything to return to how it used to be." He stood on my forehead and stared down at me.  
"Do you think Wizard will be nicer to us?" I asked poking the little fairy in the belly.  
He hummed, "Dunno.. Possibly. There's kindness in everyone."  
"A lot has happened today." I said quietly and closed my eyes. Finn agreed, "We have a full plate on our hands but I know you can do it Molly!" I wondered if that were true. Finn rolled back onto his side of the pillow and hummed until we both fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Wizard PoV  
I began to dig through all the books I had, making sure I only pulled out the ones in English so I wouldn't have to translate for her. Having slept for only two hours I awoke just as the sun started to rise, magical beings don't require nearly as much sleep as humans do. I dreaded that I would be forced to have company again. Sighing, I sipped my coffee and looked and the three books I was able to find, "The History of Castanet", "The Harvest Goddess and the Harvest King", and "A Detailed Guide to Bell Making". I highly doubted the last one would be helpful but it would keep them busy. I wandered around the house asking myself over and over why I agreed to this. She was just as annoying, but slightly more tolerable, than that damned Witch. I don't like confrontation, and as long as I act like I'm helping, it will appease the Harvest Goddess. I wandered upstairs to get my cloak, the chill of winter still hung in the spring air. I looked at the clock on my night table, "6:35" it said mocking me. I huffed and walked downstairs. I really did not enjoy people's company, I am immortal and making friends would do me no good in the long run. I sat at my desk and enchanted the pencils to draw up a map of Castanet. If I give this to her she won't have to ask where anything is. I rested my face in my hands staring through the window at the ocean. Sometimes I envied the people in this town. Only living for half a decade, dying with their friends, not having to remember all the people they have lost over the past several hundred years. I had to continually remind myself not to get used to anyone's company, because in the blink of an eye they will shrivel to dust. I peered at the dancing pencils and the map that had come to life. My books and the stars are the only real companions I have. They are as old as I am, but even books tear, disintegrate, and break. Stars burn out. Immortality is-  
"Hey Wizard, what's that?" I nearly jumped out of my chair. I hadn't heard her come in, and I made a mental note to start locking my door. She peered over my shoulder her hair grazing my cheek. I jerked out of the chair and walked away from her. "It's a map… clearly…" I faced my book case, "did you…bring any coffee?..." I heard her digging in her rucksack, "Yup! Here you go!" She tapped me on the shoulder and handed it to me. "The books… are on the coffee table… and there's a map… on the desk…" She clapped her hands together "Great! We can get started!" I turned around and stared at her. Finn was placing coffee cups on the table and munching on chocolate as she made herself comfortable on the sofa. "What…are you doing?" I asked growing annoyed already. She was like a cat, if you fed it once it kept coming back to you. She smiled, "I'm going to look through the books, like you said! I figure if I have any questions I can just ask you." I sighed. I really didn't like being mean to people. "You should… take them to the inn… or your farm… read them there…" She scoffed and furrowed her brows, "What if I don't understand something?" Finn was dipping his chocolate into his coffee. "Finn… can explain…" Finn looked at Molly, his face covered in melted chocolate, and waved his arms frantically, "I haven't been around as long as Wizard, Molly! There's a lot I don't know!" Molly crossed her arms and glared at me, "See?" she said pointedly. "Mail me… a letter?" I tried one last futile attempt to get her to leave.  
I had failed.

"Wizaaarrrrdddd, why don't you try to help instead of sitting at your desk, and being a sour puss?" Molly complained. Finn chortled.  
"I told you… already… I would help you… but not really help…" I was on my third and a half cup of coffee and it was 10 o'clock in the morning now. How much longer would she be here?  
"Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzaaaaaaaaaaaarr rrrrrrrrrrrdddddddddddd" she whined, "I can't focus, this isn't fun."  
"It's not… supposed to be fun…" I said quietly. Sighing, I stood up and walked over to the coffee table to see what she had come up with. "Let's see… what have you found out.. so far…?" I looked at the note pad she had been writing on, "Red bell= fire, Yellow bell= soil, blue bell= water, green bell= wind, purple bell= spirit (?)" I sighed again, "aren't you…observant… I bet Finn helped you… with that…" I looked at Finn and he smiled brightly, "We weren't sure what the purple one could be! Then I remembered spirit!" He exclaimed proudly. I continued reading, "Ring bells in certain order, scratch marks, revive harvest goddess." At the bottom of the page was a poorly drawn drawing of me with an arrow that said "stupid, mean, wizard". I frowned at this. "If… you put as much effort in to thinking… as you did in drawing… you might have figured out more… by now…" She rolled her eyes at me and rolled onto the floor. "You can't talk you haven't been any help." I sipped my coffee. "Have you thought…about visiting places… that represent that element… and bell color?..." She sat up and looked at me, "Like… The red bell could be in the Garmon Mine District?!" She stood up and gathered the books, notepad, and map. "Thanks for your help Wizard! I'll go look there!" and with that she was out the door with Finn in tow.  
I got up and grabbed a few books from my book shelf, sat at my desk, and tried to translate anything that would help her. Not because I was being nice, but because I wanted this to be over with.  
At least she didn't leave a mess this time.  
Sort of.


	5. Chapter 5

Molly PoV  
I felt like a new person when I left wizards, I had a purpose. I ran through the streets as fast as I could, occasionally hearing Finn call out for me to slow down. I needed to check on the status of my farm. Luke said it would be done in a day, if he were working on it (which could just be his ego talking, but we'll see).. My feet were going as fast as they could carry me, my stamina was maxed out from all the coffee I had earlier. I was so giddy and excited I could hardly contain myself. As I approached my land I saw a little cozy house and two people working on what looked like a barn, "LUKE, DALE!" I called, running over to them. "Dammit, Molly, you're going to give me a heart attack!" Dale exclaimed, but I could tell there was a smile through his thick mustache. "My house is done! Thank you!" I laughed. Luke flexed, "I did most of the work!" Dale smacked him on the back of the head. "Ouch…" Luke said feigning injury.  
I still had my hands full of books and it took quite a bit of shuffling to open the right one, "Have either of you seen this bell before?" I asked, pointing to the red bell of Castanet. Luke stared at it for a long time. "Hm… it doesn't ring a bell." He laughed at his own pun, and Dale rolled his eyes and said, "Don't ask Luke anything, a six year old has more smarts than him." He said teasing his son, "but you might want to ask Ramsey the blacksmith, or Owen. They might know." I nodded and decided to put the books away inside the house so they wouldn't get damaged. Opening the door I couldn't help but smile, there was a bed, night stand, a dining table, a small kitchen, and a kitten calendar hanging on the wall. They had also put up polka dot wallpaper with pink and green and blue spots. I was so happy with my new life already. I was making friends and I have a house of my own, and I'm being productive. How nice it is to live by your own means. I closed the door behind me and walked around my new house. There was a toolbox next to my nightstand that I hadn't noticed before. I opened it up and there were a few tools in it, a hoe, a watering can, an axe and a sickle. I closed the tool box and placed the books on my table. I had no cooking utensils, nor a fridge; however, I had my heart set on planting some crops when I got back home. I left my house and walked up the path towards the Garmon Mine District, crossing the rickety old bridge and finally reaching the Blacksmiths. I opened the door and called out, "Hello!" as I stepped inside. "Hey. You must be Molly; Owen has talked about you quite a bit." I was greeted by a short older man with crazy greyish hair. He was balding in some spots and had a long pointed nose, and somehow reminded me of one of those dwarves in fairy tales. They always took their forging seriously. "I have a question for you," I said placing my fingers together. "I might have an answer for you," he said eyeing me suspiciously. "Have you seen an old red bell around?" I asked as he scratched his beard. "A red bell you say? No, don't think I have. I've been worried about getting my forge up and running again, it's nearly impossible to get it hot." I thought for a moment and came up with an idea, "If I help you with your forge will you keep an eye out for the bell for me?" He liked the idea and nodded. "I'll need 2 junk ore, 2 iron ore, 1 copper ore, 1 silver ore, and 1 gold ore. Owen should be in the mine so he can help you if you have any questions." Finn flew out of my pocket and looked at me with a disappointed look, "This will take forever now!" he huffed. "We have to save the Harvest Goddess soon! She's getting weaker!" Ramsey was still looking at me and I didn't want to reply and make it obvious I could see something he couldn't. "There's an old hammer over there in the corner if you want it. I'll ask around about the bell for you." I thanked him and walked out of the shop with an old hammer and a sad Finn. "Don't be discouraged!" I told him. "I'll collect the ore in no time! I won't let the Harvest Goddess die." I promised. This seemed to cheer him up and he took his spot on my shoulder as we entered the mine.

3 hours later and we had collected all the ore, but the gold one. I was getting frustrated and tired from all the rock smashing I had been doing. But I had also collected some material stone while I was down here, so I was trying to make the most of my time. It was about 3 pm when we ventured down to the 8th floor of the mine. I didn't want to go too far and get lost, but I had to keep going farther, I still hadn't found Owen. Venturing down more stairs I tripped on the last step, face planting the ground. Finn squeaked and I heard a voice, "Molly?! Are you okay?!" I put my hands on the ground and sit up and saw Owen running towards me, "Your nose is bleeding!" He retrieved a white handkerchief and handed it to me. I pressed it to my nose and thanked him. "Hab yoo sen a wed bewl?" I asked holding my nose with the kerchief to keep more blood from coming out. Owen smiled sheepishly not wanting to laugh at how I sounded, "A red bell?... No, I don't think so. There's a bell stand right over here though." He pointed across the mine, and sure enough there was a stand for the bell, but alas, no bell. "Can yoo halp mee get a goldin ore?" I asked as Finn sat on my knee looking concerned. Owen smiled big, "I have 3 golden ore's! I've been mining down here all day!" He said proudly. I stood up, "Thinks Owin, I hab tew git goin bak tew Wamzees now." Owen smiled bigger, "I'll show you the way! He ran ahead of me and I followed slowly behind.  
Once we exited the mine my nosebleed had stopped and there were too little kids and an older kid chasing each other. "I bet you can't get me, Bo! I'm too fast!" the little girl shouted. Bo chased her, "Chloe, give that to me!" He whined. She was carrying something red in her hands. A ball? She threw it to Taylor and they were about to start playing keepaway when Finn noticed, "MOLLY THAT'S THE RED BELL! WE HAVE TO GET IT BEFORE SHE BREAKS IT!" I ran over to the little girl, "Hey!" Taylor threw the bell to her and she kicked it into the air, "I NEED THAT BELL!" I cried as it landed in the chimney of Ramsey's roof.  
Well shit.  
We were inside the blacksmith shop and Finn was yelling at the girl, Chloe, not that she could hear, "WE NEEDED THAT FOR THE HARVEST GODDESS!" he sobbed. Owen walked over to Chloe and reprimanded her, "You shouldn't take things that aren't yours!" Chloe looked at Owen sadly, "I'm sorry. Bo found it when he went down in the mines; I just wanted to tease him." Taylor had made a quick escape before he could get into trouble. I looked up at the chimney and sighed. Ramsey noticed and asked if I had gotten all the ores, "I found all of them but the gold one. Owen said he had 3 of them though." Ramsey nodded in approval at both of us. "I'll need all the ores I can get." I handed him the ores I had collected and Owen handed him 3 iron ore, 3 copper ore, 3 silver ore, and 3 gold ore. Ramsey put them into the forge one, by one, until smoke started to fill the room and we all started coughing and gagging. Finally we heard a loud popping noise and the bell flew out of the chimney! I ran outside with Finn and Owen to find Taylor holding the bell. How convenient, he runs off before trouble, and shows up to become the hero. "Um, Taylor… Can I have that? I really need it, and it's really important…" He nodded and parted with the bell. "Thanks." I smiled and patted his spiky blonde hair. "Thanks for your help Owen I'm going to go put this back." Owen looked startled, "Oh, I can do it Molly! I don't mind, what if you fall again?" I shook my head, "I won't, I have to do this myself."

Finn and I reached level 9 this time, in no time at all since we didn't have to break rocks anymore. I hooked the red bell on to its stand and it rang loudly summoning a sprite. "Thanks for returning the bell, Molly! Thanks to you the fires can roar now, and we can revive the Harvest Goddess and Castanet a little bit!" I smiled triumphantly at Finn. We'd have to rub this in Wizards face, since we did this without his help. The sprite sang and rang the bell loudly. I didn't notice an immediate change, but something did feel different in the air, I felt like the warmth had been brought back to Castanet just a tiny bit, but it was a start.


	6. Chapter 6

Wizard PoV

That evening I felt something changed in Castanet. I burnt my coffee on the stove, that simply never happens, people seemed to be louder than usual, and there seems to be a magical warmth the island has now. Had that girl really succeeded in ringing the red bell? I would be shocked if she had; it's only the 4th day of Spring... I still won't help her, regardless, I reminded myself gazing out the window. I climbed up the ladder and onto the roof and began sketching the sky. There was a ruckus going on down on the beach near my house, lots of voices were mixed together. "You're awesome, Molly!" one guy shouted. I don't know why this piqued my interest but it did. I tried to ignore it though. I put my sketch pad down and decided to go back inside, it's none of my business, and I don't care what that girl is up to. But even so… what was going on? Back inside I could still hear people hooting and hollering. I peeked through the window that sat over my desk. It appeared to be a bonfire on the beach, some people from the mine district were there, and some people from the Ocarina Inn. And of course, Molly. They all appeared to be celebrating. I walk away from the window. I don't care what that girl does. But WHY are they celebrating? I do want to know what they are getting worked up over. No, Gale, I'm not that Wizard anymore. It isn't right. But I sat down on the sofa anyways and faced my crystal ball. Did she ring the red bell? That bonfire wouldn't be that big if she hadn't… I had a war going on in my head. I didn't do crystal ball readings anymore. I'm not some novelty fortune teller, yet somehow my hands were over the deep purple crystal, and royal blue smoke began stirring in the ball. I let curiosity get the better of me.

I focused on the guy that was sitting next to Molly, what was his name? Owen. And he had a cousin named Chloe. He loved mining, seafood fried rice, and mushroom soup. His birthday was Summer 18. I could see anything about him that I wanted to know. Right now his mind was fuzzy from drinking too many cocktails. It was always easier to read people who had been drinking. It weakens their mental barriers. Who were these people sitting around the fire? I prodded further into Owen's mind, Luke was the blue haired one to the left of Molly, Selena was the red haired girl sitting next to him, on Molly's right was; Owen, then Kathy the blonde with the pony tail, Chase the peach haired guy, and Maya with the ginger braided pigtailed. "Hooray for hot fires!" They cheered around the bonfire sipping more of their drinks. I could tell Owen was getting a little bit past tipsy, but Molly appeared to only be on her first cocktail. "So how did you know where to find the bell?" Kathy asked.

So that girl HAD rung the bell. I don't care, as it doesn't benefit me in anyway. I just have to remember to use less heat when making my coffee now.

Molly looked at Kathy and said flatly, "Wizard gave me the idea that I should look in the mine." They all gasped, as did I. Why would she admit I helped her? She rang the bell, I didn't do anything but hand her books and push her in the right direction. Well, the wrong, but right direction. I didn't actually think the bell would be in the mine. That would be too easy. I just wanted her to get out of my house. I was shocked by her blatant honesty, though. Most people would take the credit for themselves. Maya began to lecture Molly, "I warned you that he was mean, makes people cry, and can transfigure people! Why did you go visit him?" she said worriedly. Molly shrugged, "It was a coincidence, I guess..." her voice trailed off and she looked uncomfortable from all the stares her new acquaintances were giving her, "Anyways, I should get going it's getting late and I have to work on the farm tomorrow." She stood up, and Owen stood up as well, "I'll walk you home Molly!" he offered. Molly reluctantly accepted Owen's offer, since he was going home the same way as her. "Be sure to put the fire out everyone!" Molly called behind her. Before Owen left I noticed Kathy looked a bit sad.

I was still in Owen's head, following next to Molly, I poked a little further into his thoughts. He thought Molly was brave, fun, and cute. He remembered her nosebleed in the Mine earlier today and thought about how cute she was when she talked with a stuffy nose.  
I snorted at Owen for thinking having a nosebleed was cute. Bleeding isn't cute, and that was the second day in a row she had drawn blood from falling down. I shook my head and continued to stay in Owens mind.  
He had a little crush on Molly. Owen was thinking about kissing her. And asking her to the flower festival came to his mind. He liked that she smelled faintly of chocolate.  
I guffawed at the last bit, the chocolate smell was probably Finn, since that was all he seemed to eat. I wasn't so concerned about the flower festival thought as I was of the thought of him kissing her. She had only met him two days ago. Well 3, considering it was half past midnight. I don't care if he kisses her, I really don't but what if he tries to and she doesn't want him to? I'd save him a lot of embarrassment if I stopped him now. He seemed like a good guy and I don't want his feelings to be hurt… But I really shouldn't meddle... And I don't think she likes him more than a friend.  
Reality hit me, hard. What was I doing?  
I immediately stepped out of Owen's mind, the blue smoke in the ball diminished. I knew he wouldn't hurt her, even if he were drunk, so there was no need for me to stay. It was not my place to be there to begin with. I just needed to know if she had rung the bell, so I knew what level of heat to put my coffee on.  
I headed back up to the roof and stared at the sky with sketch pad in hand, continuing where I had left off, trying to clear my head with a fresh cup of coffee.  
The stars were exceptionally beautiful tonight, I noted. I could spot all the major Spring constellations, Cancer, Hydra, Leo, Virgo, Bootes, Crater; and all the circumpolar ones that never shifted in the sky, Draco, Ursa Major, Cepheus, Cassieopeia. I could list every star and every constellation visible in the sky. I had detailed drawings of every one of them. You have to have some sort of hobby when you're immortal, or else you'll go mad from loneliness.  
I laid on my back and watched the grey clouds floating, covering the black sky in thick lace, but even through all the clouds you could see starlight breaking through.


	7. Chapter 7

Molly PoV  
The next day (spring 5) I decided to stay close to home and work on the farm. As much as I wanted to go and rub it in Wizards smug face that I had rang the red bell, everything was now built and I had to get my crops in the ground! I stretched and stepped outside. Finn flew next to me holding seed bags in his hand, "Are you going to help me, Finn?" I giggled and poked his nose, causing him to laugh. Walking to the field I realized I had to pull up all the weeds that had spawned there in just 3 days. I've never had a green thumb. I have more like a black thumb if anything. Which I guess would be handy if you needed to get rid of weeds.  
"Are we going to look for the other bells after this?" Finn asked, trying to pull up a weed that was bigger than him.  
"It depends on when we get done, Finn." I said simply.  
"But Mollllyyyyy." He whined.  
I simply shook my head and continued weeding, "I know the bells are important, but so is living. I haven't made very much money, and I still have to buy animals and cooking utensils. We need food to live and I'd prefer not to just eat herbs straight from the ground." I peeked at Finn, and he didn't seem to like my answer, he didn't need to eat to exist. He was magic. So I continued on, "and when I save enough money I can buy a pot and make you chocolate, hot cocoa, milk tea, whatever you want." I said trying to use his weakness against him. He loved sweets, especially chocolate, it turned out. I guess if you don't need to eat, when you do, you want to indulge yourself.  
"Okay, I guess." He seemed somewhat satisfied, "but don't forget about the bells, Molly!" he squeaked.  
I chuckled, "I hardly imagine I will."  
"Who are you talking to?" I jumped at the voice and turned around to find a doctor with glasses, and long black hair pulled back into a neat ponytail standing there. "Oh… Uh… Just to myself. I have to make a mental list of everything I need to buy." I forced a smile. Great, now he thinks I'm crazy. "Did you know that talking to yourself is often a symptom of stress? You shouldn't push yourself too much." He put his hands in his pockets, "What's your name? I don't recall having met you before."  
"Molly. What's your name?" I asked politely.  
"Jin. I work at the infirmary in town."  
"So what brings you out here today, Jin?" I asked. He looked around my farm and then looked at me, "I was searching for herbs, so I could make medicine in my shop."  
"Oh! Well I have some! I know all the best places to find them!" I said and hopped to my feet. Finn looked at me disapprovingly, knowing it would take time away from farming, which was taking time away from our bell search.  
"That would be great," Jinn smiled, "I was going to head over to Flute Fields to look for some." I nodded happily, "the last time I was there I found 5 herbs! And two berries!" I dusted my pants off and started off in the direction of Flute Fields, with the doctor walking next to me, and Finn flying way ahead saying we had to hurry. Since we were going to Flute Fields I should make it worth the trip, "Do you think I should buy more seeds?" I asked Jinn, pulling the seed pouches out of my rucksack and showing him. He adjusted his glasses and looked at them for a moment and then said, "That's up to you. But it would be smart to buy the seeds that regrow after you harvest the crop. Like strawberries or wheat." I hate to admit I hadn't thought about that before! I would only have to buy the seed once and the plant would regrow all through spring! "Good idea!"

We reached Flute Fields fairly quickly and I pointed to all the spots I had found herbs before. "Sometimes they grow next to the fence by the river, and down by Fugue Forest, and on the hill, and sometimes in front of Marimba Farm!" I exclaimed heading towards Marimba Farm, "Oh look I see one now!" I ran over to it and pointed at it. Jin smiled and walked over quickly to pick it up.  
"Molly!" Anissa said happily. I turned to see her standing on the porch "Are you here to buy seeds?"  
"Yeah! I was also just showing Jinn where I've found herbs before, he's looking for some."  
Anissa looked around me and blushed at the sight of the handsome doctor. "I know lots of places where herbs grow," She smiled at the ground. Finn flew around her and landed on my shoulder, "Maybe you should ask her to show Jinn where the herbs are!" A light bulb went off in my head. "Anissa, would you mind showing Jinn where you find herbs? I've only been here for a few days so you probably know of more places than I do. And I really should get back to my farm." All of that was true.  
"Okay, Molly." The pink in her cheeks growing darker. She walked past me and began talking to Jinn immediately about how blue herb tea was better than yellow herb tea, and how the green herb has the most health benefits, which he agreed with.

Inside Marimba Farm Ruth sat behind the counter frowning. When she saw me she smiled like a cat spotting a mouse, "Did you have any luck with those seeds? Probably not. That's why you're here, isn't it?" I walked up to the counter, "No I haven't started growing them yet. I was actually here to buy strawberry and wheat seeds!" I said as nicely as possible. Ruth snorted, and opened a cabinet under the desk she was sitting at. "How many of each?"  
"Um…" I was looking up at the ceiling trying to think.  
""Um" isn't a number," she said growing annoyed. I narrowed my eyes at her, "Fine. Four of each." I picked a small number because I knew I was running a tad low on cash. She reached back under the cabinet and returned with 8 seed pouches. I handed her the money and left without thanking her or any good-bye. When we were out the door I exhaled and said, "Well that was rude." Finn nodded and we started back home.  
"MOLLY!" a voice to the right called, it was Cain running over to me. "Do you have a minute? I heard you got your barn built! I have 3 baby cows and I remembered I promised you one. Would you like the brown, black, or white and black one?" he asked out of breath. I laughed and said, "Well, the black one maybe?" He nodded and said, "I'll put it in your barn later!" I thanked him and he walked back to his ranch in a hurry.  
He, Hanna, and Renee were nice. But I wondered what crawled up Ruth's butt and bit her.  
I collected some berries, mushrooms and an herb before I continued on back home. Finn was getting annoyed so I put him in my pocket and told him to take a nap. I yawned and checked my watch; it was a little bit passed 1 in the afternoon. I had accidentally slept in that morning because Owen and Luke and conned me into going to a bonfire party to celebrate me ringing the red bell. Chase, Maya, Kathy, and Selena joined in because they were happy they could cook again. It was fun and all, but I was just pooped after my busy day. Running through mines is hard work! Owen was nice enough to walk me home, but it wasn't necessary. I could walk home just fine, and I could kind of tell Kathy liked him. She seemed sad that he was leaving. I hope he doesn't have the wrong idea of me, I couldn't see him as anything but a friend. Not that he wasn't cute, he was, I just didn't think I could see him in that light.  
I wondered where the next bell could be. It was yellow and represented soil, so could it be buried under ground? If so it would be extremely difficult to get ahold of it… What was that stupid Wizard doing now? Probably not anything helpful that's for sure.

I walked up the path to my farm, and finished all the weeding, planting, and watering around 4. Finn was flying around me anxiously, "can we go look now Molly?" I sighed. "Let me catch a few fish and then we can look through the books inside to see if we can find anything, okay?"  
He frowned and crossed his arms, "Do you promise?"  
"Promise." I nodded.


	8. Chapter 8

Wizard PoV  
It had been a week since I last saw that girl. I was glad. I managed to get a lot of studying done in peace. It was Spring 12, two days before the flower festival when someone decided to barge into my house again. "Wizard, guess what?! I rang the red bell without your help!" She must not keep track of time very well because that happened days ago. I didn't move from chair or look up from my book, "Congratulations..." I hoped this would satisfy her need to brag, "I'm glad… you don't need my help… after all…" she groaned and flopped onto my sofa, "That's why I'm here Wizard! Well… partly… I read through all the books you gave me and I couldn't find the location of the yellow bell!" I shook my head, "I did not… give the books to you… I am merely… letting you borrow them…" She rolled her eyes, and I continued, "Did you ask… anyone in town?..." She stood up and threw her arms in the air, "Only everyone! No one has seen it!" she walked over to me and put her hands on her hips, "That's why you're going to help me!" I closed my book and put it in my lap.  
"Don't… volunteer me… for things…" She looked up at the ceiling and kicked the floor with the toe of her shoe. "What… did you do?..." I asked gritting my teeth.  
"Well… Shelly, Mira, Colleen, and Mayor Hamilton are in charge of the Flower Festival this year… The only thing is, is there are no flowers on the cherry blossoms, because the soil is so bad…" she was talking animatedly with her hands, "so I said you would help find other flowers since you're magic and all." My blood began to boil. "I just thought you could help! I don't want to let the town down!"  
I clenched my fists and stood from my chair and walked around the room angrily, "Since… YOU have decided to help… Castanet… Does not mean you can… volunteer other people to help… I hold no responsibility… for these people… much less their flowers… Why can't you… just leave me ALONE?..." I finished pacing and glanced over at Molly. Tears were welling in her eyes and she was biting her lip to keep from crying, I was taken aback. Why would she cry? I was the one that should be crying. Her telling people I would be helping them find flowers with my magic powers, "What… are you doing?..." I looked around but Finn was surprisingly nowhere to be found. She stomped over to me tears now falling from her face, "You are EVIL!" she screeched pointing her finger at me, "Why are you so mean and cold hearted?! Why can't you just help someone when they need it!" she was pounding my chest with her fists. "You have great magical power, that's what people say, yet you wallow around here wasting them!" she was sobbing now. "Why won't you just help me?! Do you hate people that much?!... Humans need help sometimes! I'm not the smartest person out there, I know that! B-but…" she walked over to the couch and sat down burying her face in her hands. I stood there like a marble statue. What was I supposed to do in this situation? I distance myself from humans because it is too painful for me to co-exist with them. Hell, I can't even co-exist with Vivi, that damn witch. I didn't want to keep seeing her cry. I waved my hand and a coffee pot and a coffee mug floated over to the coffee table. Molly looked up and saw the coffee pot pouring her a cup of coffee. Coffee always cheered me up, maybe it would make her stop crying. She looked at me with wide eyes, "You really can do magic." I looked away from her and sat down in the chair across from her, "That's why… they call me a wizard…" she frowned at me.  
"Then why won't you help people, instead of squandering your magic on parlor tricks?"  
I tapped my fingers on my knees, irritated, "I… don't have to answer… to you…" I do not do parlor tricks.  
What she did next surprised me, "No, Wizard, you do. You can't keep brushing me off like you do everyone else! I refuse to leave until you give me a real reason, for why you won't help me."  
I looked at my desk and my face felt hot. "Look at me, Wizard and give me a reason!" She pounded her knees with her fists. I looked at her and I couldn't speak. She glared at me with angry eyes. I did not like confrontation nor conflict. "Unless you give me a reason, you WILL help me." I wanted to laugh at the idea. "You… cannot make me… do anything." She sighed, "You're right, Wizard, I can't make you do anything." She stood up and walked upstairs. "Where… are you going?..."I ask. She doesn't reply. I stand up and walk up the stairs to find her laying on my bed, one leg crossed over the other. "What… are you doing?... Go home…" I demanded. She shook her head and stared at the ceiling, beginning to talk calmly, "I'm willing to stay here until you change your mind. Day and night… burning all your coffee… getting greasy finger prints on all of your old books… hiding the lenses to your telescopes…" She crossed her arms and continued firmly, "Until it drives you mad." I glared at her in disbelief. How childish could she be?! "Fine… I will help you…" She looked at me and put her hand to her ear saying, "Sorry, I didn't quite catch that." I sighed, "I said… I will help you…" She sat up and climbed off my bed.  
"Good. Was that so hard?" she said going back to her normal self.  
"…Yes…."

The next morning she showed up early, I awoke to a commotion going on downstairs. I threw my shirt on and found Finn and Molly sitting at my coffee table going through my books.  
"I can't read ANY of these, Wizard!" Molly exclaimed. Finn sat beside her chewing on a piece of coffee candy he found on my desk. I put my palm to my forehead and rubbed my eyes, "What… time is it?..." Molly was talking quickly, "Probably about 4 now. I wanted to get here early so we could find enough flowers!" I gathered my hair and began to weave it into the low braid I always wore, "Don't you… have to work… on the farm?" Molly shook her head and took a bite of curry bread, naturally getting crumbs all over the book she had in her lap, "I already did the work." She talked with her mouth full. They had left to go home at midnight, and yet she came back here 4 hours later? Probably 2, judging by the mess they created. She stayed all day yesterday having me look through all my books for any information on the yellow bell, and now she was already back. What a pain. "Have you… gone to sleep?" I asked looking at Finn and all the candy wrappers strewn across my books and the floor. Molly shook her head, "I've been drinking lots of coffee, Wizard! There's so much we have to do today! We should really get going!" I walk over to the table and begin picking up the trash the sprite and girl had brought over. I can't stand mess. "The sun is not… even up yet…" Molly crossed her arms, "The flower festival is tomorrow! People are counting on us, Wizard!" I crinkled the wrappers in my hand, "The flowers… will still be there… when the sun comes up…" Molly was exhausting to deal with.  
"Wiiiiiiiizaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrdddddddddd."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The girl, sprite, and I set off on a flower hunt at 4:45am. I am a wizard, and even for me this made no sense. The spring air was crisp and growing warmer as the days went by. We walked quietly down the cobblestone streets in silence. No lights in the buildings or homes were on yet, I thought bitterly. Even the animals weren't wandering around. "Do you… know where… there are flowers?..." I asked as Molly looked around the town. She was quiet for a moment and then said, "No" plainly. I sighed. "We should… try the Harvest Spring… if there are flowers they… should be there…" Finn started flashing yellow excitedly and spinning around in the air, "The Harvest Goddess lives at the Harvest Spring!" Molly smiled at Finn. I spoke quietly, "Sephia… is probably still… too weak to show herself…" Finn stopped flying around and sat on Molly's shoulder looking melancholy. "Why did you have to say that?" Molly asked sharply. I shrugged and looked at the dirt path we were walking on, "it is… the truth…" we walked in silence as we passed Molly's farm. She had quite a few crops she was trying to grow but they looked all looked pretty pathetic, most of them being held up with stakes. The pond was still, even the fish were sleeping. I thought again. I sighed wearily thinking I should have had more than two cups of coffee before agreeing to leave. I just wanted this outdoor excursion to be over.


	9. Chapter 9

Molly PoV  
I almost felt bad for forcing Wizard to help me, but I can't restore Castanet without his help. The cherry blossom trees wouldn't even bloom this year. The way Colleen talked the festival seemed very important to the people here. It was the one night a year everyone in town got to view the flowers with the one they loved.  
We walked together in silence up the path to the Garmon Mine District. Finn was excited to go to the Goddess Spring, but Wizard rained on his parade about seeing the Harvest Goddess. Poor little guy. I peeked over at Wizard and he was frowning as usual. I had never walked side by side with him, occasionally it was hard to keep up with his long legs. "Can I ask you something, Wizard?" we were approaching the bridge to the mine district. He looked at me from the corner of his eye, "What?..."  
"Is that mark under your eye paint?" it was always there and it didn't match his skin.  
He scoffed, "No… it's a scorch mark… it marks a witch of wizard… it shows up where… their magic is most prominent…"  
I looked at all the shapes under his eye, "So your eyes are magic?"  
He didn't laugh at me, surprisingly, "In a way… my strongest skill… is reading people's feelings… and thoughts… I can also look into the past… and future…"  
I smiled at him, "What am I thinking then?!" I picked something unlikely.  
"I don't… do that sort of thing… Magic is not… for games…"  
I was quiet and listened to the bridge squeak underneath us. "It was an elephant… if you were wondering."  
The corner of his mouth twitched and then went back to a frown, "We… we are almost to the spring… up on the right… in the forest…" we passed the carpenters and headed into the forest.

Finn floated around frantically, "Molly I can't find any flowers!"  
I looked at Wizard and frowned. He was staring at the giant tree with curvy branches and funny bark. "I guess… I was wrong… but… this would be… the most likely place for flowers…" We were surrounded by lush green grass and clear blue water. It was the prettiest place in Castanet that I had seen so far, but no flowers. It had an air of calm about it. "We can't give up!" I said sternly, "I'll think of something else! I-I…" I paced back and forth across the grass. Wizard said nothing but watched me carefully, "what… can you do?... Nothing…" he stuck his hands in the pockets of his cloak, "it is… too late… to try to grow flowers… the soil isn't… good enough either…" anger flared in the pit of my stomach. "You think I don't know that?! I can't give up, though! People look forward to this festival every year!" I ran my hand through my hair tugging on my bangs. Wizard began walking back to the entrance of the forest, "I… cannot help… if there is… nothing to help…" I was so frustrated I could cry. I ran after him and Finn followed, "maybe you have a book that can help! We can go back to your house and check!" Wizard did not answer for a long time, just continued walking. "Did you hear me Wizard?! Could there be a book that can help us?" He stopped so abruptly that Finn pelted into his back and landed on the ground. "There are some questions… even books cannot answer…" I picked Finn up by the collar of his shirt and let him climb on my head. "We could… still try though, right?" I pleaded. I didn't want to disappoint anyone. "I… suppose…" Wizard answered. We crossed the bridge again and headed back to Harmonica Town. The sun was starting to peek over the ocean's horizon, painting the sky in a pink, gold, and purple pastel color. "Your one redeeming… but annoying quality… is persistence…" I looked at Wizard. Had he just complimented me? I didn't know whether to be insulted or happy. He stopped walking just as we passed my house. "You should… go to sleep…" I looked aghast at him. How could I sleep when there was so much that had to be done? "Or don't… you can pass out… from exhaustion… for all I care…" anything nice he said would only be added by something harsh. "But… that would not help… anyone…" he continued walking. I half-smiled at the back of his white bed-headed hair. Was the ice in his veins thawing? "Okay, Wizard! I'll see you later!" He just nodded his head and walked back to Harmonica Town.

I lay in my bed restless from all the coffee I had drank, not feeling the slightest bit of fatigue. How was I supposed to sleep like this? I sat up and put my shoes back on and decided to read a book. This made me think maybe Wizard would be impressed with me. Me, reading? I wasn't a very focused reader. I grabbed an encyclopedia off the shelf and flipped through the pages. I had to think of something. The people of Castanet worked so hard, they deserve a nice festival. I stopped flipping on a page that had a rose on it,  
"Roses are thorny delicate plants, which are often given as a symbol of love. Their many velvety petals are an easy way to identify them. They prefer acidic soil and a nice spot in the sunshine, as they require at least 6 hours of sunshine daily. Water often."  
Roses are really beautiful, I thought. I looked around my house and saw the jar of herbs on my counter. I ripped out the piece of paper from the encyclopedia, which made me smirk because I could see Wizard cringing now, and walked over to my kitchen counter. I began boiling water and throwing the purple herbs I had found into it. I walked over to my tool box, digging through all the items Dale and Luke had left behind. I stumbled upon a dirty paint brush at the bottom of my tool box that had blue paint dried into the bristles. I grabbed it and took it back over to my kitchen counter, and attempted to clean it. Finn decided to show his face and flew out of the pocket in my shirt, "What are you doing, Molly?" he yawned and stretched, smiling happily. I pulled his hat off, teasing him. Him flying around frantically, made me giggle and I finally gave him his hat back. "I'm making roses, Finn." He pulled his hat back on his head and put a finger to his chin. "Making… Roses? I thought you could only grow roses?" I smiled at him, "You'll see." I showed him the torn encyclopedia paper and began folding it, over and under, in half, side to side, until it resembled a rose. His face lit up, "You're brilliant, Molly!" he laughed. "Can you grab me some more papers?" I asked. He nodded and flew over to the encyclopedia and I heard the sweet sound of papers tearing.  
Finn and I finished making all the flowers around 8:30 at night. We had, purple roses, green roses, and white roses. The boiled herbs acted as a water color, not quite a paint, not quite a dye. They weren't real plants but I hoped they would do the trick. "We should show, Wizard, Molly!" Finn cried and clapped his hands excitedly. I wiped my eyes, "Yeah, we should! I could also go for some coffee right about now." I laughed. We had made about 403 paper roses, I had to think carefully of how to transport them. "Finn, how should we move all of these? I doubt they will fit in my rucksack." My rucksack managed to carry a ton of things, it made me wonder if it was magic, but there's no way they would all fit in it. I looked around the house and thought carefully. Finn snickered and said, "I am magic, Molly" And winked. He began to hum and all the flowers we had made began to float in the air and suddenly disappeared. I gasped, "What did you do with them, Finn?!" he did a summersault in the air and sang, "I put them in the church grounds!" I clapped my hands and applauded Finn. "What a wonderful little sprite you are!" I dug in my rucksack and fished out a strawberry candy, unwrapping it and handing it to him. "Now if only you could think of a way to get Wizard to like us more!" Finn smiled and told me about Wizards secret stash of candy in his desk, and how he had a real sweet tooth, "Maybe you could make him some candy, or cake!" he cheered. I smiled sadly, "I don't have any milk because Coalette isn't mature yet. But I have a little bit of sugar so maybe I can put something together!" I walked into my kitchen and took inventory of what I had, coffee beans, crawfish, catfish, mushrooms, 1 cup of sugar, strawberries, chocolate, wheat, and eggs. "Maybe I can make coffee flavored chocolate covered strawberries!" Finn nodded encouragingly and laid down on the dining room table, "I'll just take a nap while you do that. Using my magic makes me tired." I laughed and started putting the chocolate in the pot so I could melt it.  
Ten o'clock rolled around and the chocolate coffee covered strawberries were finished and I still hadn't slept. "Finn, I'm going to take these to Wizard, okay?" He mumbled in his sleep and I walked out the door and started off for Wizard's house.  
I wondered if he'd be awake? I stared up at the clouds in the night sky. My hands were cramped, paper cut, and burned. My back was sore, and my eyes were dry. I had never stayed up for so long in my entire life. I hoped it was worth it. I kept staring at the sky noticing how I couldn't see any stars and began to think about how disappointed Wizard would probably be.  
I reached the bridge and felt something trickle down my face. I looked up at the sky and water fell in my eye. Blinking furiously, not wanting to drop the strawberries, I began to walk faster. More water fell from the sky. "Oh no!" I cried and ran furiously off to Wizards house.


	10. Chapter 10

Wizard PoV  
I was busy studying runes when there was a loud banging on my door. I didn't leave it unlocked anymore, specifically so I wouldn't have any company unknowingly. I put my pencil down and unlocked the door to find a soaking wet Molly, holding a plate of muddy looking strawberries. "Wizard! It's raining! It's terrible!" she was crying. "What's… going on?" I asked quietly. Wasn't rain a fairly normal occurrence? Molly pushed past me and put the plate on my coffee table, and yanked me out of my house by the wrist. "Where are…we going?" Molly didn't answer just kept pulling me up the street until we reached the church grounds.  
In the pouring rain I saw a bunch of little papers hanging on the cherry blossom trees creating purple, green, and black puddles underneath them. She fell to her knees and began sobbing. "I-I spent all day making paper flowers with Finn!" she cried, "and now it's useless… you were right, Wizard. I can't do anything…" Something stabbed me in my heart. Why should I feel bad for her? She's just a human girl. 50 years from now this won't even matter. I walked over to her and offered her my hand. "Get up… You're going to make yourself sick…" I don't want Finn to be mad at me for leaving her in the rain to cry. "Why should I, Wizard?... I'm just as useless as you said…" she sniffed and picked up a mushy paper wad floating in a green puddle in front of her. "Useless." She tossed it and looked down at her hands. Why was she so driven to help people? People need to help themselves, it's not her responsibility. "Stop crying… like a baby… do you want… someone to see you like this?.." she shrugged and kept looking down. "I don't care anymore. I can't bring back the flowers. I can't find any other bells. I can't revive the Harvest Goddess… I should have never come here." I frowned and reached under her arms and stood her up. "Look at me… stop acting so stupid… it rained… it will continue to rain… it will always rain… but that doesn't mean… that the sun is gone…" she peeked up at me through her matted down hair. It was the first time I had seen her amber eyes look so sad. She said nothing, she didn't move, just stood there like a zombie. "I am… going back inside… stay out here… and get pneumonia… if you want to…" I turned around and began walking back to my house, her soft footsteps sloshing slowly behind me, splashing into puddles. I looked up at the sky, and the rain kept falling.  
After she came back inside she refused to eat anything and refused to sleep. "Moping about it… won't solve anything…" She ignored me and sat on my couch with her legs pushed into her chest and her chin resting on her knees. Her hair was still dripping and her clothes were leaving a puddle on my couch. I sighed and retrieved a towel. "Here… My couch will get moldy… if you don't dry your hair…" She didn't even look at me, just sat there like a sad sack of coffee beans. Sighing again, I take the towel back and start drying her hair. "Why… are you so damn… difficult…" She started crying again. "I'm sorry, W-wizard… everything I did today was a failure… the roses… the chocolate coffee covered strawberries… " I looked at the strawberries in a pile of goop. "Did you… make them… for me?..." Molly nodded underneath the towel. I put the towel down next to her and picked up a strawberry. Her eyes widened, "No! They aren't edible anymore!" she stood up and I took a bite out of the strawberry. "I said don't!" she smacked my arm and I took another bite. "The chocolate… wasn't bad… but the rain…ruined it…" she frowned. Why did she look angry? I ate a stupid strawberry and said it was good. The anger left her face and I noticed how red her eyes were. "You should… go to sleep…" she shook her head no and sat back down on my couch. Her hair had turned frizzy from the rain, and her clothes were still soaked. I walked into the kitchen and began boiling water, then walked upstairs and retrieved some grey sweat pants and a black turtle neck. I handed it to her, "Here… put on some dry clothes… before my couch is ruined…" then turned and returned to the kitchen. I added a few tea leaves to the kettle and turned off the water to let them steep. Stupid girl. Doesn't she know humans get sick easily? Being around her was like being a babysitter. I poured the tea into the cup and whispered a few words and waved my hand over it. I used a spell that makes the one ingesting the enchanted food sleep comfortably without dreaming. I figured she'd be too distraught to sleep, and if she did fall asleep on her own, she wouldn't sleep well. If she goes to sleep I won't have to babysit her. That's all.  
At least she had on dry clothes now, although way too big for her. The wet ones were lying in a wrinkly pile on my rug, and she was back in her sad coffee bean position. I huffed. Her goal must be to bring mildew into my home. I handed her the tea and stared at her angrily until she drank all of it, which took quite a long time. "Go… to bed…" I pointed to the stairs and she yawned and walked upstairs without arguing.

I searched my bookshelf for a very specific old book that was given to me a long time ago. I hadn't touched it in over two hundred years because it brought back terrible memories of the person who gave it to me. I flipped open the cover and read the writing on it "To Wizard, with love, Morganna." In runic. I sighed and pushed the note to the back of my mind. I flipped to page 684 and read paragraph 3. I hadn't ever needed this spell or ever used it so I had to make sure I performed it correctly. I looked at the clock and I had just enough time to perform it. It would only last 24 hours so I had to use my time wisely. I peeked out the window to see the rain still going, by dying out. It would be a few more hours before the sun came up.  
I apparated to the church grounds with the book in hand, and began reading the spell aloud. Slowly but surely blossoms began to appear on the trees. They weren't real blossoms, only a mirage, they would fade away after a day. The spell was a decorating spell. A long time ago, when a wizard or witch held a get together, they would often adorn their homes with images of beautiful things in attempt to impress the others; this one was used for plants and flowers. I bent over and picked up a crumpled mess of paper and looked at it. It was no longer recognizable as a rose, or anything but a large wad of sopping paper. Unraveling it and I surprisingly found text on it that was smeared, but still legible, "Roses are thorny delicate plants, which are often given as a symbol of love. Their many velvety petals are an easy way to identify them. They prefer acidic soil and a nice spot in the sunshine, as they require at least 6 hours of sunshine daily. Water often." I shook my head. She had used paper from a book to make these. I crumpled the paper up again and stuck it in my pocket.  
She might want this later…


	11. Chapter 11

Molly PoV

"Hey… Wakeup…" I heard a soft voice say. "…Wakeup…" I felt something shake me. Opening my eyes I saw a familiar figure standing over me, his braid grazing my cheek as he stood up. "Are you… going to sleep… through the flower festival?..." he crossed his arms and I could feel the glare his green and amber eye was giving me. The amber one, hidden behind hair per usual. I blinked and sat up looking around the room. All the blinds were closed but a few rays of sunset peeked through the gaps.  
"What… W-what time is it, Wizard?" I asked finally feeling my senses come back to me. I climbed out of bed and sneezed.  
"It's 5:30… The flower festival… will start soon… You have a mild fever…" He picked up a pile of neatly folded fabric from a desk across from his bed. "Candace… and Luna… made this for you… They saw me… drying your clothes… on the roof this morning…" He handed me the fabric and I unfolded it to find a pretty white sundress dress with roses, a lavender trim, and a pink bow synched at the waist. It was far too nice for me. "I… figured you'd want to go… to the festival… but when we return… you will sleep off your cold…" He walked downstairs. I took off the turtle neck and sweat pants that Wizard had leant me, folded them, and placed them on the desk. How was there going to be a festival without any flowers? I had failed. It would just be the crumpled paper festival. Tears stung my eyes making it hard to see how to put the dress on. There was a zipper on the back that I couldn't reach. "W-wizard?" I called, feeling ashamed to ask him to do anything for me.  
"Yes?.." he replied from somewhere downstairs.  
"I-I need s-some help with t-the dress… I c-can't reach the zipper… B-but, if you don't want t-to… I can just wear my old clothes…" I said quietly. I could hear soft footsteps on the stairs and a quiet sigh.  
"Just… wear that… I will help you…" he appeared at the top of the stairs and I felt my face get hot, from the fever or embarrassment, I didn't know. He walked over to me and I clutched the dress to my chest making sure it wouldn't fall down. "Turn… around…" he said not meeting my eyes. I turned and heard the whirr of the zipper and could feel that his hand was shaking. "Okay…" he said quietly. I turned around and began smoothing out the dress so I wouldn't have to make eye contact. "It… it suits you… be sure to thank them…" he said so quietly I couldn't tell if he had actually said something, or whether I had imagined it. He walked back to the stairs and disappeared down them. "Let's get going…"  
I followed Wizard to the front door and began to ask him something when he cut me off, "One rule for tonight… don't ask any questions…" he opened the door before I could reply and we started off to the church grounds. I counted the footsteps we took and stared at the ground. What was this not in my stomach? Why were my hands shaking? I fiddled with the fabric on the dress, rubbing it between my finger and thumb.  
"Molly!" a voice called. I looked up and saw Owen running over to us with a huge grin on his face. "Y-you look b-beautiful!" he said out of breath. My face got hot again, "T-thanks Owen." I replied and I felt a strange shift in the atmosphere. I peeked at Wizard and he wore a scornful look on his face. His arms were crossed and he was looking at something else. "Hey, Wiz!", Owen said thrusting out his hand.  
"Don't call me that…" Wizard said annoyed, ignoring Owen's handshake.  
Owen frowned and looked at me, "Is he your date to the flower festival?" He looked sad. I could only imagine the color my face was, and luckily I didn't have to answer his question, because Kathy was coming up the hill. She waved and called out to me. She complimented me, and luckily towed Owen off to the church grounds. He looked over his shoulder and waved sadly at me.  
"S-sorry about that…" I stuttered. Wizard just nodded and continued walking to the church grounds. I stared at the ground and my throat began to choke me. I couldn't show my face here. I hadn't succeeded, why was I even coming here? I sighed and my vision of the ground went blurry through the tears in my eyes. I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Close… your eyes…" Wizard said and I did. I wish I could just disappear. He continued holding my shoulder as I walked, making sure I wouldn't trip. "Open…" He said and when I did I felt so overwhelmingly happy I could die. There were thousands of flowers on the trees, in pots, in baskets. They were everywhere. "W-wizard! How did this happen?!" I gasped staring at him. He didn't meet my eyes and was looking at a nearby flower pot. "Did you do this?! It so wonderful!" I cried wrapping my arms around him in a tight hug. He stiffened and I took that as a sign to let go. He looked at me in shock, well as shocked as he could look, his eyes slightly wider than normal. "S-sorry…" I looked at the pavement that had remnants of the dye I had used yesterday.  
"It's fine…" he said regaining his composure. We walked around and I greeted people I knew, Wizard not saying much.  
"Wizard! Come here!" Luna called waving her hands. Candace stood next to her shyly staring at Julius who was selling accessories. I looked at Wizard quizzically and he just shrugged and walked over to her. I sighed, and decided to sit on a bench. My head was feeling fuzzy, I felt, hot, and I was starting to sweat. I was finally feeling this fever. I sat down and stared at the blossoms on the trees, they were so beautiful. How had he managed this? I don't know how long I sat there, probably ten minutes, but it felt like an hour. Wizard returned, handed me a melon soda, and sat next to me, our shoulders touching on the small bench. "What did Luna say?" I asked faking a smile. What if she liked him? But what would that matter to me? We're just acquaintances. "Friends" is too bold of me to say.  
"She said… to make sure that… you have fun…" he stared at the tree in front of us, "and that you looked… pretty…" the last word I could barely hear. Was he embarrassed to say that? I stared at his profile for a long time. The street lamps coming on and the sun had set. He looked magical. He was magical. "You… should rest." He said finally looking at me. I frowned and traced my finger over a rose that was on my dress. I didn't want to go back yet. I didn't always get a chance to sit with Wizard and have him be… well, nice to me. I sipped my soda and looked up at the sky. The moon was starting to rise.  
"Can you show me a constellation?" I asked ignoring what he said. He sighed and looked up at the sky.  
"Which one?..." I pointed to a star and he gave me a detailed description of its name, what stars were near it, what constellation it was in, what galaxy it was in. We continued to play this game until I had a sneezing fit. "We're going back… now… you have to rest… I won't be responsible for you… passing out…" he stood up. I tried to follow suit but I dropped my soda as the world began to spin and I started to fall. Wizard moved quickly and I felt my cheek hit his shoulder and his arms around me, "thanks" I tried to say softly. All I could feel was warmth. And then darkness.


End file.
